As another foreign company boasts of “gold fever in Guyana”

Nov 06, 2022 News

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Guyanese still in the dark…

By Shervin Belgrave

Kaieteur News – As Guyanese remain in the dark about all mining contracts the government has signed with foreign companies, another Canadian corporation has entered Guyana, and is reportedly boasting to its shareholders that there is a “gold fever” in the country.

The company, Alerio Gold Corp, entered Guyana in June last year, and had announced its presence in the country via multiple press statements it had posted on its website.

Although the Guyanese government made no formal announcement to its citizens about the arrival of Alerio Gold, the company ensured that its shareholders were made aware that it had bought three large gold fields in Guyana. Those three large gold fields, according to the Canadian firm, were purchased from another company, ‘Goldeneye’, to which the Guyanese government had leased land.

Upon its arrival in June 2021, Alerio Gold entered into a deal with Goldeneye, to purchase two of the three gold fields first; the Tassawinni and the Harpy gold projects, located in Cuyuni Mazaruni, Region Seven.

In one of its 2021 press releases, Alerio Gold stated, “…The Company has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Goldeneye Capital Corp (Goldeneye), in respect of the acquisition of two gold mining properties located in Guyana, the Tassawinni Property and the Harpy Property”.

Alerio Gold then informed its shareholders that Tassawinni is a 3,413 acre property with proven gold resource, while Harpy sits next to the Aurora Gold Mines (AGM)-a gold field owned by Chinese company, ZiJin Mining Inc. – that has been producing over 120,000 ounces of gold per year.

Days later, the Canadian corporation closed off its purchase deal and began setting-up for exploration work on the properties.

Months after closing its first deal, the company issued another press statement in January, 2022, with the headline, “Gold fever Guyana”. In that statement, Alerio Gold announced to shareholders that it is going to buy a third mega gold field in the country called Puruni – located along the Puruni River in Region Seven.

The company stated, “Alerio Gold Corp is pleased to announce that it has entered into a property purchase agreement to acquire a 100% interest in five gold prospecting licenses in Guyana, known as the Puruni Gold Property”.

Alerio finalized the deal in July last and described Puruni to its shareholders as a gold field that spans some 9000 acres of land, situated in an area that is rich in quartz vein-related gold mineralization.

As the new foreign company continues to explore Guyana’s gold fields, the government is yet to deliver on its promise to make all mining contracts public.

Kaieteur News (KN) Publisher Glenn Lall and his reporters have been repeatedly bombarding the Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo at his press conferences to have all mining contracts released.

Jagdeo had promised that he will ensure that the contracts be released; since he had said it’s his personal view that such documents should be made public.

Months have passed, and during a recently aired programme on Kaieteur Radio, hosted by Lall, Jagdeo was once again reminded about the promise he had made. His response was: “I am not your post boy” and told the KN Publisher that he must write the relevant authorities such as, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and the Ministry of Natural of Resources for the contracts.

Lall however, had expressed that he had asked the authorities, via messages and letters for the contracts on many occasions, but they have not been released publicly. The Vice President promised again that he would find out what is going on, because he believes the contracts should be made public and get back to Lall. A month has passed already and Kaieteur News and its Publisher are yet to receive a feedback from Jagdeo about the contracts.

While the nation continues to wait for a public disclosure of all mining contracts, large foreign corporations are making lucrative gold finds in the country.

Just two weeks ago, Kaieteur News reported that, “Omai’s new gold find is two times Guyana’s US$3.2B debt”. In that news article, it was reported that Omai, a Canadian company, disclosed in a statement to its shareholders that it is “extremely pleased”, because it has been able to double a previous gold find of 1.6 million ounces of gold to 3.69 million ounces of gold within nine months.  At the current world market price for gold, the find by Omai is worth over US$6.2B dollars.

Notably, Guyanese learnt of this golden discovery through the mining company, while government remains silent on that deal and others.

It must be noted that while the discovery has the potential to rake in huge profits for the country, Guyanese are clueless about how much will be earned from the massive gold discovery, since the contract between Omai and Guyana remains secret.

In the meantime, Guyana’s Minister with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh announced in May last that three other foreign companies larger than Omai will be coming to Guyana. In making the disclosure, he skillfully glossed over how much the country would gain from these additional activities. He would only say that jobs would be created.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

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